Three leading US organisations including the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights and the Washington Office on Latin America have written to the Colombian Government condemning recent attacks by the Colombian security forces on unarmed civilians during which five people were killed and expressing their concern at statements
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A comprehensive new report by Amnesty International into human rights violations in Colombia has called for an end to military aid to the country until the human rights situation improves. The call will add further pressure on the British Government, which provides substantial and unconditional assistance to the Colombian
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An amazing but true story appeared in this week's edition of the Colombian weekly news magazine 'Semana', written by Colombian soldier Luis Esteban Montes. His chilling testimony explains how colleagues in his platoon killed an unarmed farmer in order to report his death as a guerrilla killed in combat.
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A new report released by a coalition of 200 human rights groups and other civil society organisations in Bogota today describes a 67.7% increase in extrajudicial executions in Colombia in the past five years. Their investigation also found 535 cases of civilians being murdered by the Colombian security forces
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Civilians in the south-western Colombian region of Narino are the targets of death threats, arbitrary detentions and forced displacement in an ongoing campaign of terror that human rights groups say the state security forces are complicit in. Army-backed paramilitaries, that the Colombian regime claim have demobilised and no longer
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Over 1,200 Colombian civil society organisations have signed up to a report to the United Nations outlining the human rights situation in Colombia. The report slams the Colombian government for being responsible for the majority of abuses and for overseeing a "dramatic increase" in "cases of extrajudicial executions, forced
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Attacks by leftwing FARC guerrillas on the Colombian security forces have seen over 50 soldiers lose their lives in the past month. A further four soldiers, including a Colonel, were killed when their helicopter was allegedly shot down by the guerrillas in the central region of Tolima during an
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An Italian journalist and three French citizens, including another journalist, have been detained, and two of them expelled from Colombia, for covering an ongoing strike by sugarcane workers in southwest Colombia. The expulsions follow the deportation earlier this month of a German human rights worker from the same region
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Murders of civilians in the Colombian department of Arauca continue at an alarmingly high rate with more than 20 people having been assassinated since late August when Justice for Colombia last reported on what has been occurring in the region. Many of those murdered have been presented by
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Click here to watch Barack Obama speaking about trade unionists being murdered in Colombia. Watch John McCain's eyebrows when Obama says that those who kill trade unionists have not been prosecuted! For more see Obama Highlights Colombia Trade Union Deaths in US Presidential Debate
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Photographs taken at a recent arms fair held in the Colombian capital Bogota have been posted on the internet. One of the images included is of an M2 heavy machine gun that the caption describes as "of British origin". Which Colombian military units use the guns and whether
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Justice for Colombia has launched a new campaign, challenging European Union trade preferences for Colombia. Astonishingly, the EU currently provides Colombia – the most dangerous country on earth for trade unionists – with special trade benefits meant only for countries that respect fundamental worker rights and human rights. Colombia clearly
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A scathing new report from Human Rights Watch says that rather than trying to uncover the truth about links between rightwing paramilitary death squads and senior members of the political establishment, the regime of Colombian president Alvaro Uribe is instead hindering the investigations and attempting to tarnish the Supreme Court
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Wednesday night's US presidential debate in New York City saw Barack Obama again criticise Colombia for the "targeted assassination" of trade unionists. The Democrat candidate said that "there have not been prosecutions" for the killings, which he described as occurring on a "fairly consistent basis".Obama made his remarks after
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A 44-day strike that paralised the Colombian judicial system has ended after the Colombian authorities agreed to wage increases. The deal was thrashed out during seven hours of talks between the Government and judicial workers trade union ASONAL on Monday night and was agreed by members yesterday. The
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A senior Labour Member of Parliament has attacked the Colombian regime for refusing to provide threatened trade unionists with protection and has called on the British Government to do more to highlight human rights in Colombia. Mike Gapes MP, the chair of the powerful Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, also
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The Washington DC-based Center for International Policy has just reported the murder of well-known Afro-Colombian community leader and human rights defender Walberto Hoyos. He was shot dead by two paramilitaries just after 3.30pm yesterday and Colombian human rights organisations are alleging that the Army and Police, along with
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The Haldane Society has passed a highly critical motion on Colombia blaming the regime in Bogota for widespread human rights abuses, demonising the political opposition and stifling democratic debate. The motion also condemns UK support for Colombian military units that are involved in torture and extra-judicial executions of trade
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A new Justice for Colombia report, "UK Military Aid to Colombia, Alternatives to a Flawed Policy", has been released today. The report, which is available here, recommends a change in emphasis in UK policy towards Colombia; away from the current focus on military assistance, towards a more constructive
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A civil servant based in the Colombian capital Bogota, famous as the first State official to legally formalise unions between gay couples, has been murdered. Norberto Salamanca, a notary who helped nearly a hundred couples 'tie the knot', was shot four times by an unidentified assassin as he was
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A senior Colombian Senator yesterday accused President Alvaro Uribe of creating a "dictatorship" and described Mr Uribe as having "no democratic character". Liberal Party Senator Piedad Crodoba, speaking at a conference in the Venezuela capital Caracas, also claimed that paramilitaries were taking over the institutions of the Colombian State
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The trade union representing Colombian judicial workers has declared that their 40-day strike for better wages and working conditions will continue despite the Colombian regime declaring a state of emergency. The union, ASONAL, says that the emergency – which allows the Government to sack workers that do not return
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An excellent piece by Garry Leech, editor of Colombia Journal, looks at how several types of human rights abuses are on the rise in Colombia – contradicting claims by the Colombian regime, and some of their more fervent supporters in the international community, that the situation is improving.Click here
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A local councillor in the Colombian region of Narino was shot dead as he arrived home from a council meeting shortly after midday on October 7th. Armenio Cortes, 46, represented the Afro-Colombian communities of 'Alto Mira' and 'Frontera' and had regularly spoken out about environmental degradation in the region
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In the face of mounting labour disputes the Colombian regime has yesterday declared a 90-day state of emergency allowing them to limit the right to freedom of association and to fire striking workers. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe announced the measure on television last night but unions have accused the
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A paramilitary death squad operating in the central Colombian region of Caldas has murdered three indigenous people and severely wounded a 70-year-old woman who they shot in the stomach and arm and left for dead. The massacre took place despite months of warnings from human rights groups and indigenous
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The International Union of Food Workers (IUF), a worldwide federation of over 12 million workers, has added their weight to calls to support striking sugarcane workers in Colombia. The strike, which has been running for nearly four weeks, has seen those involved violently attacked and accused of links to
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At least eight soldiers have been killed in an ambush by leftwing FARC guerrillas in the southern Colombian region of Narino. The troops, of the 29th Brigade of the Colombian Army, were patrolling the municipality of Barbacoas when the attack happened on the morning of October 8th. Despite
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Justice for Colombia urges all supporters to attend an event in Parliament at 6pm on Tuesday 14th October to meet with two visiting human rights lawyers from Colombia. Yenly Angelica Mendez and Dora Lucy Arias will be joined by Tony Lloyd MP, the Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party,
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Over 2,000 people who signed a Justice for Colombia petition calling on the UK Government to end military aid to Colombia have received an e-mail from Downing Street setting out British policy and explaining that military aid will continue. Here JFC responds to the Government's position.The original JFC petition
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In what human rights groups have described as another attempt to cover up the extent of human rights abuses in Colombia, the Colombian authorities have expelled a German human rights investigator from the country. Christina Friederike Muller, who had been invited by a coalition of NGOs to carry out
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In his continuing series of radio columns to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Colm O'Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland addresses Article 23 of the declaration: "Everyone has the right to work for a fair wage in a safe environment and also has
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In the latest violence against indigenous people in the southern Colombian region of Cauca, a senior indigenous leader has been shot and killed shortly after receiving a string of death threats. In a statement denouncing the murder, the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) has blamed the violence on
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A series of incidents involving leaders of the Colombian agricultural workers' trade union FENSUAGRO, as well as their children, indicate that assassination attempts against them are imminent. The two individuals believed to be at most risk – Aidee Moreno and Eberto Diaz – have both visited the UK to
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Members of the 'International Observation Mission on Extrajudicial Executions and Impunity' that visited Colombia in October last year have released a statement in response to the speech made by Colombian Minister of Defence Juan Manuel Santos on September 9th. In his speech Santos criticised the Mission and other human
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